TEXAS LEAGUE: Gallo taking hype in stride since move to Frisco

Published 4:34 pm, Monday, June 16, 2014

RoughRiders' Joey Gallo throws to first Monday against the RockHounds at Security Bank Ballpark. Tim Fischer\Reporter-Telegram

RoughRiders' Joey Gallo throws to first Monday against the RockHounds at Security Bank Ballpark. Tim Fischer\Reporter-Telegram

Photo: Tim Fischer

TEXAS LEAGUE: Gallo taking hype in stride since move to Frisco

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Joey Gallo couldn’t believe it and neither could anybody else watching the Frisco RoughRiders take on the Midland RockHounds on the evening of June 9 at Frisco’s Dr Pepper Ballpark.

With the game tied at 4 in the bottom of the ninth, Gallo — who was making his Double-A debut that night — made an unmemorable night up to that point into a memorable one with a single big swing of his bat.

The 6-foot-5, 235-pound left-handed hitter belted a towering, two-out, three-run homer to left-center to lift the RoughRiders to a 7-4 victory over Midland. It was safe to say that his 0-for-4 showing at the plate before that at-bat was long forgotten.

“It was kind of a slow start to the game for me, and then at the end of the game the walk-off home run was pretty special for me, especially just joining the team and contributing like that,” Gallo said before Monday night’s game against the RockHounds at Security Bank Ballpark, “I was like, I couldn’t believe it. It was the craziest way I could have possibly thought that game would end. It was special.”

Frisco manager Jason Wood was pleased, especially since it came in a win against a team they were in a pennant race with in Midland. Frisco clinched the first half Texas League South Division crown on Friday.

“It was nice, especially from a team standpoint, and for a kid coming from the Carolina League to here and making an impression like that,” Wood said. “He did have three strikeouts, but he hit the ball hard and had (four) RBI on the night.”

That blast was an example of the power everyone has been raving about. Gallo, the former 39th overall pick in the supplemental round of the Texas Rangers in the 2012 draft out of Bishop Gorman High School in Las Vegas, Nevada, is considered the best power hitting Rangers prospect since Mark Teixeira.

Going into Monday’s game, Gallo was hitting .308 with four home runs, a double and 10 RBI in seven games played with Frisco. This comes on the heels of an outstanding start to the season at Advanced-A Myrtle Beach of the Carolina League, where he batted .323 with 21 home runs, nine doubles and three triples.

“(I’m) just kind of going out there and taking every at-bat as its own at-bat,” Gallo said. “I’m just going out there and trying to help the team win, do whatever it takes, and things have started to fall in place for me so far. I didn’t expect to put up quite the power so fast, especially in High-A, it was more of a pitcher’s park. I’m not surprised, but I also wasn’t really counting on doing this well.”

Wood said he’s seen good power to the opposite field and Gallo’s had a good approach during batting practices. He added that if Gallo sticks with that approach, it will help the young player out in his development.

Not surprisingly, the tall lefty could have been a really good pitching prospect had he pursued that route. He said that when he was a senior at Bishop Gorman, the then-power pitcher hit as high as 100 mph on his fastball.

“But that was two years ago,” he gushed. “I don’t know if I could go out there and do that right now.”

Gallo admitted he didn’t have the desire to be a pitcher. He wanted to be a hitter instead.

At only 20 years old, the third baseman has been given time to develop as that premier power hitter. The Rangers don’t seem in a hurry to rush up the player, ranked as the No. 4 prospect in the organization by both Baseball America and MLB.com.

Throughout the hype and the recent attention, Gallo tries to stay humble. He says playing the game of baseball can make any person humble.

“I really don’t try to get too high or too low in this game,” he said. “You’re going to fail a lot and you’re going to do well a lot. It’s kind of hard to get high in this game and then you go out the next day and go 0-for-4. It’s pretty easy to stay grounded.”

Gallo is also working hard on his game. Last offseason, he worked out with major leaguers Jason Giambi, Nick Hundley and Troy Tulowitzki. He said he learned a lot more from those guys than just playing the game.

“Off the field it has helped me mentally for the game and the other off the field stuff that happens,” Gallo said.

It also says a lot about the player about whom he admires. The one player Gallo has always looked up to, even though they’re not the same kind of player, is New York Yankees shortstop Derek Jeter, a consummate professional on and off the field.

With Gallo’s approach to the game, who he surrounds himself with and what kind of players he admires, Ranger fans might have a reason to be excited about this young player and his potential.

Gallo just wants to keep working hard to live up to that potential and be a solid pro baseball player.

“I want to make more contact, put up good at-bats, work on my defense and continue to get better as a player,’ Gallo said, “and hopefully things keep working out.”